Jon Sica Of Batteries Plus On 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Scale Your Business
An Interview With Ken Babcock
Collaboration and consensus are not the same thing — navigate decision making to prioritize progress and have a bias for action. Challenge teams to disagree and commit to a course of action, and as a leader, strive to build harmony but create an environment that invites challenge. Tension is a good thing, it staves off stagnation and the trap of silos.
Startups usually start with a small cohort of close colleagues. But what happens when you add a bunch of new people into this close cohort? How do you maintain the company culture? In addition, what is needed to successfully scale a business to increase market share or to increase offerings? How can a small startup grow successfully to a midsize and then large company? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experiences about the “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Scale Your Business”. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jon Sica.
Jon Sica, Chief Business Officer at Batteries Plus, started his professional career by writing Cabela’s catalogs but quickly blazed a trail towards executive level titles by mixing the art and science of business to find success across big box, QSR and franchise companies. He joined the Batteries Plus team in April 2019 where he was tasked with driving expansion for the nation’s largest and fastest-growing omni-channel retail franchise. Sica spent three years focused on not just defining successful strategies but connecting them to people and executing in a way that delivers consistent, predictable results while building business value. Sica now holds the title of Chief Business Officer and leads the brand’s strategic Information Technology efforts while integrating its Project Management Office (PMO) and strategy teams to align the brand’s roadmap to its ongoing mission as a technology-forward franchisor.
Thank you for joining us in this interview series. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
I grew up a lover of the written word, because that was the easiest way for me to communicate. As a small child, I suffered from hearing difficulties and a speech impediment that made it difficult to pronounce certain words. I overcame this by searching for alternate words that I could pronounce, so I could be understood. Even though I have mostly overcome those early struggles, that connection to language led to a deep interest in how individuals communicate that has persisted throughout my career.
After college, I began what would become a long stint at Cabela’s, starting in the marketing department. During my years there, I got to work across every part of the business, from retail and merchandising to supply chain and ecommerce, eventually becoming the head of company strategy. I left Cabela’s after being recruited by Whataburger, another peerless brand in Texas. Once again, I was in the position to learn the business from top to bottom, from the fry station to the boardroom.
When my old boss from Cabela’s took the CEO job at Batteries Plus, leaving Whataburger and the home my family had found in Texas was the furthest thing from my mind. But the opportunity to take over the growth engine of one the country’s largest franchised businesses was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
You’ve had a remarkable career journey. Can you highlight a key decision in your career that helped you get to where you are today?
The key decision for me, and one I’ve made many times since, was deciding that “Hey, I can do that.” I’m shocked when people hold themselves back because their resume doesn’t satisfy every bullet on a job description. I’m a firm believer that everyone brings life experience and talent, in addition to credentials, to the table when they apply for a job — no one should be deterred from advancing their career based on one or two areas where they need development.
What’s the most impactful initiative you’ve led that you’re particularly proud of?
Completely reinventing franchising here at Batteries Plus has been one of the most fulfilling initiatives of my career. Over the past few years, we have transformed our franchising efforts entirely, to put franchisees at the center of everything that we do. This “franchisee first” approach has led us to redefine our approach to everything from store openings, store construction and real estate, to business intelligence, technology, strategy and PMO departments. We’ve also created business acquisition, franchise resale and franchise relations disciplines that didn’t exist before.
Sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a mistake you’ve made and the lesson you took away from it?
One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that it’s just as important to make time for personal development as it is for professional development. There was a certificate program at Harvard business school that I was very interested in taking part in, but, at the time, I was prioritizing meetings that others wanted me to attend and passed on the opportunity. I’ve kicked myself for missing out on that ever since. That’s when I learned that it’s okay to manage your schedule to accommodate your own development, because no one else will. Sometimes the things that end up benefiting your career can come from outside your job.
How has mentorship played a role in your career, whether receiving mentorship or offering it to others?
I’ve been the beneficiary of mentorship for many years. In my career I’ve learned a lot from the leaders I’ve worked with, particularly Scott Williams and Preston Atkinson. During my journey at both Cabela’s and Whataburger I worked my way through many different departments, learning a lot from the people that worked there. While at Cabela’s, I was deeply involved in the company’s transaction and merger with Bass Pro. For me, that experience was a master class in business and M&A.
Through these experiences, I came to see how a business functions as a whole, which is a perspective I try to pass on to others. Getting a chance to pay it forward now is one of my greatest privileges as a leader.
Developing your leadership style takes time and practice. Who do you model your leadership style after? What are some key character traits you try to emulate?
A lot of my management style comes from people like Scott Williams and basketball coach John Wooden. I think it’s important as a leader to be both low-key and approachable with a strong emphasis on process and strategy. Some of the other lessons I’ve learned from my mentors are: the importance of assembling a great management team, building strong marketing plans, embracing e-commerce and always looking at your customer’s journey through their eyes. Having worked my way up at multiple companies, I’ve also learned that many of the lessons of good business transcend just one industry and can be applied to almost any company.
Thank you for sharing that with us. Let’s talk about scaling a business from a small startup to a midsize and then large company. Based on your experience, can you share with our readers the “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Scale Your Business”? Please give a story or example for each.
1- Be comfortable with spending and uncomfortable with the status quo — In my time at both Cabela’s and Whataburger, I learned that trying to start growth can be harder — not easier — the longer a company has had a run of success. You’re going to have to write some big checks to fund growth efforts, but in doing so you also have to embrace the outlook that nothing is sacred. Balance investing and betting on returns, with funding growth through self-funding efforts and reallocating expenses. You have to focus on fundamentals, and read and react.
2 — No expenses are permanent — Expenses can build every year like layers on a tree, it’s important to have a zero-based mindset and evaluate not just the cost — but the value of what you’re paying for — every single year. Make sure what you’re spending on is connected directly to your goals.
3- If you can’t connect what you’re doing to measurable results, stop and pivot. Don’t be drawn into the intangible results or a margin of improvement on a small basis. Objectively evaluate what you’re working on by its ability to truly move the needle.
4- Collaboration and consensus are not the same thing — navigate decision making to prioritize progress and have a bias for action. Challenge teams to disagree and commit to a course of action, and as a leader, strive to build harmony but create an environment that invites challenge. Tension is a good thing, it staves off stagnation and the trap of silos.
5- It’s not real until you put it on paper — maybe it’s my history as a writer, but until you can put something on paper and have it understood by anyone that picks it up off the ground (metaphorically speaking), you haven’t thought it all the way through yet. In my career, I’ve seen the effectiveness of teams, meetings and projects go up exponentially by being able to coalesce around clearly communicated ideas. Don’t leave communication to chance or play the telephone game — put it on paper.
Can you share a few of the mistakes that companies make when they try to scale a business? What would you suggest to address those errors?
You have to invest for growth, but it’s important to remember that not every area should grow at the same pace. You have to have strategies for both scaling and leveraging.
Scaling includes bringing new people into the organization. One of the biggest challenges you face when building a new team is preserving the company’s culture and ethos with so many new people coming in. Many times, a company can lose its identity in a sea of new faces. As a leader, it’s important to model the company’s values yourself. Lead by example and don’t wait for someone else to take the reins.
Many times, a key aspect of scaling your business is scaling your team’s knowledge and internal procedures. What tools or techniques have helped your teams be successful at scaling internally?
I’m very much a process guy who relies heavily on Six Sigma tools. Any time something needs to get done, I work on building a new process. When doing that, you don’t want to be too rigid. You should always be adaptable and able to change and improve things as you move forward, but to me, a reliable process is key. Putting things on paper ensures that everyone is on the same page and that they’re all headed in the same direction. It gives purpose to what everyone is doing and helps improve communication.
What software or tools do you recommend to help onboard new hires?
I don’t think you need to use any specific system or software. I’ve mentioned the importance of process above. I would just add that you also need to build a sense of community to help cement your team and push people to start thinking on a larger scale.
It’s important to remember that as a leader, you are a person of significant influence and it’s important not to take that for granted. Try to see the work that you do with fresh eyes.
Because of your role, you are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most people, what would that be? You never know what your ideas can trigger.
I think the most important thing to invest in right now is STEM education. The issues facing the world right now are big and complex and solving them will require the next generation to be able to think in new and different ways. Empowering students to solve problems gives them the inspiration and tools that they need to think big and fill mentorship roles at an early age.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Our franchise site can be found at Batteriesplusfranchise.com. Additionally, you can follow Batteries Plus Franchising and Batteries Plus on LinkedIn.
This was truly meaningful! Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise!
About the interviewer. Ken Babcock is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tango. Prior to his mission of celebrating how work is executed, Ken spent over 4 years at Uber riding the rollercoaster of a generational company. After gaining hands-on experience with entrepreneurship at Atomic VC, Ken went on to HBS. It was at HBS that Ken met his Co-Founders, Dan Giovacchini and Brian Shultz and they founded Tango.
